Here’s a fun and quick project to make an indoors paper snowman using 2 inflatable origami water balloon (instruction). I like everything miniature, so i made mine super tiny with 2 pieces of square paper, 3″ x 3″ for the head and 4″ x 4″ for the body. Glue them together and use ribbon to make the scarf. Make a little cone with orange paper for the nose, if you don’t have orange paper, just paint it with color pencil or orange sharpie. I use glue stick to glue the nose. Then draw the eyes.

Hi ya, I’m finally back with new project – hand embossed snowflake card, just in time for Christmas. This embossed snowflake looks elegant and not expensive or hard to do, and it can be done without a die-cutting or embossing machine.

Here are a few items you need:

Metal or wooden embossing stylus
Craft knife
Scotch tape
Cardstock
Lightbox (I made my light box by raising the glass cutting mat with a few books and put a small torch light underneath)

First of all, you need a snowflake stencil/template, i made my own by cutting the the snowflake die (donwload) on a piece of card stock.

Keep the diamond shape loose pieces and arrange them back accordingly, secure them with scotch tape.

Sprinkle some powder (if you don’t have powder, you can use flour) on the sticky side of the scotch tape, this is to get the stickiness off the scotch tape, when you emboss the paper later, it will not stick to your paper.

Place the template on a blank card, turn it over and put it on top of a light box in order to see the outline of the template through the paper.

Once you have the template and paper line up, apply pressure to the paper and trace the outline of the snowflake. Press hard enough with the stylus to make an indentation in the card. When you are finished, flip your card over and you will see a nice embossed snowflake on your card!

Hello and happy December everyone. I haven’t posted any new projects in while due to house moved and currently busy working on a book illustration. Hopefully i can find time to do a little Christmas card before Christmas is here.

Anyway, i want to share this great deal today from Society6, it’s $6 off pillow and free worldwide shipping. There are lots of beautiful pillows there, they will make great gift. You can also visit my store below. Hope you find something you like. :)

Have you heard of the National Thinking of You Week launched by the Greeting card Association here in the UK? And did you know, it’s this week 22-28 September 2104? I just found out about it today. It says, that it’s now been scientifically proven that receiving a handwritten card makes people feel much more special than receiving texts, emails or Facebook messages. And it feels really good to send one too! I totally agree!

So why not send a card to someone today, to tell them you love them, to say hello, to wish them well, to make them smile, to be supportive in a difficult time or just to say thinking of you.

Here’s a card I made from my pencil sketch, you are welcome to download the PDF file (download), print it, send it and spread the love. ♥
Size of the card is 5″ x 5″ after trimming and folding.

Using the inflatable origami water balloon to make this cute Jack O’Lantern paper pencil toppers with your kids to celebrate Halloween. They are quick and fun to make. You need a few pieces of 3″ x 3″ orange origami paper, green Washi tape for the stem and a pen to draw the face.

If you need instruction on how to fold the origami water balloon, visit Origami Instructions site, the site have so many neat and inventive origami with instructions!

I created this baby congratulations card for my friend new baby girl. I actually used the real flat cloth diaper fold – kite fold method to fold this on a piece of 3″ x 3″ scrapbook paper.

Below is my simple sketch how to fold. Use a safety pin to secure it in place in the center when done folding. If you have trouble poking through all the layers of paper (especially the paper you used is too thick), you can cheat by using glue, so the safety pin only goes through the top layer of the origami diaper.

Give the safety pin a little touch by gluing a piece of heart shaped sugar sprinkle to it. This card is so simple to make and the results are cute. You could use it for baby announcement, or baby shower card.

Last week, I have this drawing done in photoshop, it was for my hubby’s birthday. He loves it and suggested i should put it in my shop for sale. I like the idea so here I am making another version in watercolor. I would like to share the process of making this simple and cute birthday card.

As watercolor paper is very fragile, i try to avoid drawing directly onto it, i do not want to damage the surface of the paper by erasures. Below is how i transfer my drawing to watercolor paper.

I trace over my drawing on a piece of tracing paper (image 1), turn it over and trace the back of the drawing with a softer pencil (B or 2B) (image 2). Then turn in over again, place and fix onto the watercolor paper in the position i want and trace it (image 3). I retrace the transferred image with a H or HB pencil for a more clean line (image 4), and lift all the dust, smudges and any loose graphite with a kneadable eraser (image 6).

I love it when I’m done with the tracing part. I think tracing is boring but at the same time, very peaceful. :) Now is time to paint. Start with the outlines, then the lightest section. Make sure to allow each section to dry completely before you paint the section right next to it. Finishing with darker color and paint the eyes and nose last with dry brush work.

Paint the shadow lightly and write your special birthday message. Trim the watercolor paper into a card and we are done!

I hope this will inspire you to pick up your brush and paint a little.

Hello friends, today i want to show you how to make this cute mini 12 pages instagram photo book, it’s great for personal collection or give it to someone as a present. What i like about this little book is, it’s non adhesive and no sewing. All you need is a paper, a small piece of scrapbook or chiyogami paper for the cover, a ruler and a craft knife.

Cut a piece of 11″ x 2.75″ paper from an A4 or Letter size paper. Fold the paper in half lengthwise, open it up and fold in the other direction in half, then accordion fold to create 8 panels. Unfold the paper, (you will see the fold lines as the sketch below) use your craft knife to cut along the vertical fold between 6 inner panels and mountain fold the paper in half lengthwise. (see photo 1) Accordion fold the paper (photo 2 and 3) to create the pages. Note: the last page ends up being a bit less in width than the pages, but it won’t be noticeable after we put the cover on.

For the cover, cut a piece of 5.75″ x 3″ scrapbook paper, or color paper (photo 1 below). Fold the top and bottom in lengthwise to meet in the middle, make sure the cover is a bit taller than the pages (photo 2). Wrap the cover around the pages, align it so you have equal length on each side (photo 3) and fold the flap over (photo 4). Repeat the same on the other side. Then insert the end pages inside the cover flaps (photo 5). Here, you have a 1.5′ x 1.5″ mini book! (photo 6)

To add photos to the pages without using glue, i cut a diagonal slit at all 4 corner of the pages so i can tuck in the photo (see image below). Another option is to print the image directly onto the paper before folding. I’ve created this template (download) in Adobe Illustrator, you can easily insert your images to the space indicated in the file. (You need to know how to use Adobe Illustrator)

So that’s it! Below is the mini instagram photo book of my Jackie. I created the cover design, if you like to use it, you are welcome to download this freebie PDF file. :)

You could use this mini book for other things as well, like a stamp book or for flower petal collection, poem, little journal, drawing… anything you could think of that’s small enough to fit. Total adorableness! :)

The double sided chiyogami paper is the best paper for this project because the flower shows both front and back of the paper when folded. I like to duplicate the die and scale it to different sizes to fill the paper, that way I can get as many flowers out from one sheet of paper and not wasting it. I like to save the extra flowers for other projects.

The image above is to show you how i tried to fit the dies into a 6″ x 6″ chiyogami paper.
Tips: Always score the fold line first for a clean fold, you can score using the back of the blade, but be gentle, even with the back of the blade, if you put too much pressure, it will cut through the paper.

Folded up all the flowers as many as you like and glue them on a blank card. I decorated it with some little paper punch flowers. I love craft punches, I got this flower punch at hobbycraft, it was only £1, they are great tools to own.

OK here’s the best part, you can add a secret note, a heart shape, confetti or any small things that’s flat enough inside the flowers to give a little surprise!

Now I’m ready to send this out to my friend. I hope this inspires you to try making your own handmade greeting cards!